CHAPTER 4 — The Woman in Red Knew Every Secret
Margaret couldn't take her eyes off the woman standing behind the floor-to-ceiling glass.
Vanessa.
She wasn't panicking.
She wasn't even pretending to be worried about her husband being arrested.
Instead...
She slowly lifted a glass of champagne.
Then she smiled.
And raised it toward Margaret.
As if celebrating.
Samuel grabbed Margaret's arm.
"We have to leave. Right now."
"What is she doing here?" Margaret asked.
Samuel's face turned pale.
"Because Ethan was never the mastermind."
"He was only the weapon."
Before Margaret could respond...
The top-floor lights suddenly went dark.
Vanessa disappeared.
One hour later...
Margaret and Samuel arrived at a small cabin hidden deep outside the city.
It had belonged to Richard.
No one had entered it since his funeral.
Samuel unlocked the old wooden door.
Dust covered everything.
Family photographs.
Old books.
Richard's favorite leather chair.
Margaret felt tears filling her eyes.
"This place..."
Samuel nodded.
"He knew one day you'd come back."
He walked straight to the fireplace.
Without saying a word, he removed one loose brick.
Behind it...
Was a steel lockbox.
Margaret's hands trembled as Samuel handed her the key Richard had left decades earlier.
Inside were three items.
A sealed envelope.
A USB drive.
And a newborn baby's hospital bracelet.
The bracelet didn't say "Ethan Caldwell."
It read...
BABY NO. 17 — MALE
No family name.
No parents.
Nothing.
Margaret stared at it in disbelief.
"What does this mean?"
Samuel looked away.
"It means Richard proved Ethan's identity had been erased before he ever came into your life."
Margaret slowly opened the envelope.
Inside was Richard's handwritten letter.
If you're reading this...
I'm already dead.
If Ethan ever tries to take the company by force...
Never let him inherit a single dollar.
Because he was placed into our family by the Ashford Organization.
They don't want money.
They want what is hidden beneath Caldwell Group.
Margaret's heartbeat stopped.
"What is the Ashford Organization?"
Samuel whispered only one sentence.
"The most powerful family you've never heard of."
Before Margaret could ask another question...
The cabin lights suddenly went out.
Complete darkness.
Then...
A red laser dot appeared on Samuel's chest.
Another...
On Margaret's forehead.
A calm female voice echoed from outside.
"You found the letter."
"Now hand over the USB..."
"...or the next funeral will be yours."
The voice belonged to Vanessa.
But when Margaret looked through the window...
She wasn't alone.
More than twenty armed men silently surrounded the cabin.
And standing beside Vanessa...
Was someone who should have been impossible.
Ethan.
Still wearing handcuffs.
May you like
Yet somehow...
He was already free.
